Hannah Flynn

We chat with Hannah Flynn, communications director at Failbetter Games.

QRM: Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do in the games industry?

Hannah: I oversee the marketing of our games from top to tail (with the excellent Haley Uyrus). PR, influencer relations, advertising, events, social media, community – the whole package.

QRM: How long have you been involved in the game industry, and what projects have you worked on? What are you working on currently?

Hannah: I've been in games for 3.5 years and I'm working on Sunless Skies right now, which is our follow up to Sunless Sea.

QRM: What inspired you to get started in the games industry?

Hannah: A great opportunity, and a lifelong interest in games. I've always done culture marketing: books, art galleries, charities. My interest in games has been (as with many of my interests) somewhat about the games themselves but also heavily about their portrayal and place in the world.

QRM: In what ways do you feel your experiences as a queer person manifest in the games you work on, and influence the work you do?

Hannah: I think just existing while queer in this industry is kind of an achievement. I've had to correct people on the oddest stuff, things which you might not have any understanding of if you haven't had any kind of minority experience. I had to explain that being asexual wasn't something you needed a medical diagnosis for, once.

My role in comms is really influential to the things we make. I look to my own interests and understanding of the world to question and inform what we do. Our games are heavily story-driven and feature characters of many different kinds, and I enjoy bringing the challenge of representation to our writing team, who are really up for finding new and flavourful stories to tell.

QRM: Do you have a favourite queer character—in games or media more generally? If so, what is it about them that makes them your favourite?
Question asked by @kamienw.

Hannah: Right now I am wrestling with my love for the Penguin in Gotham! UGH. I love his portrayal so much but the gay storyline he had was a bit of a mess. For a moment there, we almost had a canonical gay romance between two DC supervillains, both played by out gay actors, and the world was so sweet. Never mind. And I racked my brains to think of a queer character in games who I really liked, but came up with very little – partly because of the types of games that I'm into, and partly because there's so little representation still.

QRM: Have you ever encountered roadblocks in trying to include queer characters in games? What do you think is preventing greater diversity within games?
Question asked by @dustinalex91.

Hannah: I haven't, but Failbetter are particularly open and drive a lot of this from the writing side. The big problem preventing greater diversity in games is a lack of diversity in the games workforce. It is aggressively cis/het/male, moreso than any other industry I've been in, and on top of that so homogeneous in many other aspects. Even the personal style of the industry is a bit of a running joke. I look like a flamingo in a plaid forest at most games events.

QRM: Why do you think it is important that queer audiences are able to see themselves represented in the games they play, and in the developers who make the games they see? What can we do to improve the industry for queer audiences and devs?

Hannah: Seeing representation is greatly validating for queer people, and all marginalised people. And playing as someone unlike yourself is an eye-opener for all players – it's so valuable to have your own perspective challenged. A lot of the time, people don't even notice! We slip in trans, non-binary, gay, black and minority ethnic characters all the time who matter SO MUCH to the players who are like them, and loads of our other players barely realize. (Except on some level I think they've been nudged, and they're a little different when they've played one of our games.) Support your queer creators, buy their stuff, talk to people about them, breathe life into their work. Tell them they're cute.

QRM: Have you ever mentored somebody in your role in games, or been mentored? If so, what made these experiences worthwhile for you?
Question asked by @pepelanova.

Hannah: I haven't done any communications mentoring, though we do have internships and I had three comms interns before I went off to have my baby last year. I'd like to, especially because comms is an overlooked part of making a successful indie game.

QRM: In what ways can non-queer folk increase and support queer diversity present within games, as well as in the industry more broadly? How can we all work to support intersectional approaches to diversity, and why is this important?

Hannah: Listen to one another and step aside for queer perspectives. Recognise that lived experience is vast. Flick yourself on the nose whenever you make an assumption about how things are for someone else. Consult, learn, refine what you're doing. Consume queer media. The craft we're all striving within won't improve if we keep looking inward; we'll eat our own tail.

QRM: Is there a message that you would like to share with the queer game players, game studies researchers, and other interested folks who comprise the Queerly Represent Me community?

Hannah: YOU ARE CUTE.

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You can find Hannah on Twitter.
You can check out Failbetter Games at their website.